the    train   is   a    dashing   arrow 
 over              the               sea. 
                                     
                                    
                                     
 look   closer   -   it's    not   water. 
                                    
                                  
                                    
 the lowland which  was once the  midriff 
 of  sweden.  the  salt  flats  span  for 
 hundreds  of miles. from a  narrow  line 
 of hills  the train  lowers  itself onto 
 the  crystals  and shoots  north, like a 
 syringe       into       a       baloon. 
                                  
                                
                                  
                                
                                  
 they  call  it  the "mandelbrot crater", 
 and it is the rest of a mining disaster. 
                                    
                                   
                                    
 sun  hits the  four-railed track,  as it 
 fractures into  villages or  past  them. 
 the people  here  are  pale  but  crisp, 
 reflections    of   some   other   world 
                                     
                                    
                                     
 they always seem a bit annoyed  that you 
 are  manifesting  them   into   physical 
 form.  like  if you weren't  here,  they 
 would  be  nothing  more  than  the  sun 
 against           the           platform